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INAUGURATION    OF 

THE  STATUE  OF 

LIBERTY  ENLIGHTENING 

THE  WORLD 

BY  THE 

PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


ON    BEDLOW'S   ISLAND,    NEW  YORK 
THURSDAY,  OCTOBER  28,  1886 


Issued  under  the  Authority  of  the  Committee 


NEW  YORK 
D.    APPLETON    AND    COMPANY 

1887 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2013 


http://archive.org/details/inaugurationofstOOunse 


As  it  would  seem  that  many  thousand  Americans 
should  wish  to  possess  a  memorial  of  the  magnificent 
ceremonial  connected  with  the  unveiling,  by  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  of  Bartholdi's  famous  statue 
of  *'  Liberty  Enlightening  the  World,"  on  Bedlow's  Isl- 
and, Thursday,  October  28,  1886,  the  following  account 
of  the  proceedings,  including  the  addresses  in  full,  has 
been  prepared  under  the  authority  of  the  American 
Committee.  To  the  above  have  been  added  a  brief 
history  of  the  statue,  and  the  beautiful  engraving  which 
was  executed  as  the  invitation-card  to  the  historic  cere- 
monial, forming  altogether  a  most  attractive  souvenir  of 
an  event  of  national  importance,  and  one  tending  to 
form  an  enduring  bond  between  the  two  great  sister 
republics,  France  and  the  United  States. 

New  York,  November,  1S86. 


LIBERTY 
ENLIGHTENING  THE   WORLD. 


JOINT  RESOLUTION  AUTHORIZING  THE  PRESIDENT 
TO  DESIGNATE  AND  SET  APART  A  SITE  FOR 
THE  COLOSSAL  STATUE  OF  "  LIBERTY  EN- 
LIGHTENING THE  WORLD,"  AND  TO  PROVIDE 
FOR  THE  PERMANENT  MAINTENANCE  AND 
PRESERVATION  THEREOF. 

Whereas,  The  President  has  communicated  to 
Congress  the  information  that  citizens  of  the 
French  Republic  propose  to  commemorate  the  one 
hundredth  anniversary  of  our  independence  by 
erecting,  at  their  own  cost,  a  colossal  bronze 
statue  of  '*  Liberty  Enlightening  the  World,"  upon 
a  pedestal  of  suitable  proportions,  to  be  built  by 
private  subscriptions,  upon  one  of  the  islands  be- 
longing to  the  United  States,  in  the  harbor  of 
New  York ;  and 

Whereas,  It  is  proper  to  provide  for  the  care 
and  preservation  of  this  grand  monument  of  art, 


/ 


6  INAUGURATION  OF   THE 

and  of  the  abiding  friendship  of  our  ancient  ally ; 
therefore 

Be  it  Resolved  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives of  the  United  States  of  America  in  Con- 
gress assembled,  That  the  President  of  the  United 
States  be  and  he  is  hereby  authorized  and  di- 
rected to  accept  the  colossal  statue  of  "  Liberty 
Enlightening  the  World,"  when  presented  by 
citizens  of  the  French  Republic,  and  to  designate 
and  set  apart  for  the  erection  thereof  a  suitable  site 
upon  either  Governor's  or  Bedlow's  Island,  in  the 
harbor  of  New  York,  and  upon  the  completion 
thereof  shall  cause  the  same  to  be  inaugurated 
with  such  ceremonies  as  will  serve  to  testify  the 
gratitude  of  our  people  for  this  expressive  and 
felicitous  memorial  of  the  sympathy  of  the  citizens 
of  our  sister  Republic;  and  he  is  hereby  author- 
ized to  cause  suitable  regulations  to  be  made  for 
its  future  maintenance  as  a  beacon,  and  for  the 
permanent  care  and  preservation  thereof  as  a 
monument  of  art,  and  of  the  continued  good  will 
of  the  great  nation  which  aided  us  in  our  struggle 
for  freedom. 

Approved  March  3,  1877. 


STATUE  OF  LIBERTY. 


PROCEEDINGS   IN   PARIS. 


Americans  who  were  so  fortunate  as  to  be 
in  Paris  on  the  4th  of  July,  1884,  witnessed 
perhaps  the  most  notable  celebration  of  the 
day  that  has  ever  been  held  in  the  Old  World. 
The  statue  of  "  Liberty,"  by  Bartholdi,  cer- 
tainly had  much  to  do  with  the  greatness  of 
the  occasion.  Appropriate  addresses  were  made 
by  M.  de  Lesseps  and  Levi  P.  Morton,  the 
American  Minister,  and  the  following  letter 
was  read  : 

Presidence  du  Conseil, 

Paris,  Friday,  July  4. 

jMy  dear  Mr.  Morton:  I  have  been,  as  per- 
haps you  know,  seriously  indisposed,  and  in  order 
to  be  equal  to  all  my  duties  am  obliged  to  care 
for  myself  to  an  extent  to  which  I  have  not 
been  accustomed.  My  labors  of  yesterday  fa- 
tigued me  much,  and  I  am  recommended  to  take 
to-day  the  most  absolute  repose. 

The  Government  of  the  Republic  will  be  repre- 
sented to-day  in  your  presence  by  several  minis- 
ters.    For  me  will  remain  all   the   regret   of   not 


8  INAUGURATION  OF   THE 

being  able  to  be  present  in  person  at  this  festival 
in  honor  of  the  fraternity  of  two  great  republics ; 
but  you  are  assured  that  I  shall  be  there  in  spirit, 
heart,  and  soul. 

Accept,   my  dear   Mr.   Morton,   my   entire  de- 
votion. Jules  Ferry. 


THE    PROCES-VERBAL. 

The  following  is  a  translation  of  the  pro- 
ds-verbal of  the  proceedings  at  the  presenta- 
tion, which  was  contained  in  a  box,  in  itself 
a  marvelous  specimen  of  the  French  gold- 
smith's art. 

The  4th  of  July,  1884,  anniversary  day  of 
American  Independence. 

In  the  presence  of  M.  Jules  Ferry,  Minister 
of  Foreign  Affairs  of  France,  and  President  of  the 
Council  of  Ministers. 

Count  Ferdinand  de  Lesseps,  in  the  name  of 
the  Committee  of  the  Franco-American  Union, 
and  of  the  national  manifestation  of  which  that 
committee  has  been  the  organ,  has  presented  the 
colossal     statue    of     '*  Liberty    Enlightening     the 


STATUE  OF  LIBERTY.  9 

World,"  the  work  of  the  sculptor  Bartholdi,  to 
his  Excellency  Mr.  Morton,  United  States  Minister 
at  Paris,  praying  him  to  be  the  interpreter  of  the 
national  sentiment  of  which  this  work  is  the  ex- 
pression. 

Mr.  Morton,  in  the  name  of  his  compatriots, 
thanks  the  French-American  Union  for  this  testi- 
mony of  sympathy  from  the  French  people  ;  he 
declares  that  in  virtue  of  the  powers  conferred 
upon  him  by  the  President  of  the  United  States, 
and  the  committee  of  the  work  in  America,  repre- 
sented by  its  honorable  President,  Mr.  William  M. 
Evarts,  he  accepts  the  statue,  and  that  it  shall  be 
erected  in  conformity  with  the  vote  of  Congress 
of  the  22d  of  February,  1877,  in  the  harbor  of 
New  York  as  a  souvenir  of  the  unalterable  friend- 
ship of  two  nations. 

In  faith  of  which  there  have  signed : 
In  the  name  of  France, 

M.  Jules  Ferry, 

Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs. 
In  the  name  of  the  United  States, 
Mr.  Morton, 

Minister  of  the  United  States. 
In  the  name  of  the  French-American   Committee, 
M.  Ferdinand  de  Lesseps. 


lO  INAUGURATION  OF   THE 

This  prochS'Verbal  was  taken  to  M.  Jules 
Ferry  in  order  to  obtain  his  signature,  he,  as 
previously  stated,  being  unable  to  be  present. 


The  French  frigate  I  sere  arrived  in  the 
Lower  Bay  of  New  York,  on  Wednesday, 
June  17,  1885,  and  two  days  later  she  was 
escorted,  with  imposing  ceremonies,  by  a  large 
American  squadron,  to  Bedlow's  Island,  where 
Bartholdi's  famous  statue  of  Liberty  was  safely 
landed  on  the  afternoon  of  June  19th.  The 
naval  display,  with  the  advantage  of  perfect 
weather,  was  brilliant  and  successful.  Admiral 
Lacombe  and  his  staif  witnessed  a  fine  military 
and  civic  procession  in  honor  of  the  occasion, 
and  were  officially  received  by  the  mayor  of  the 
city  of  New  York. 


STATUE  OF  LIBERTY.  n 

War  Department,  i 

Washington  City,  September  27,  1886.    ) 

General:  Among  the  requirements  of  the 
Joint  Resolution  of  Congress,  approved  March  3, 
1877,  authorizing  the  President  to  assign  and  set 
apart  a  site  on  which  to  erect  the  colossal  statue 
of  ''  Liberty  Enlightening  the  World,"  is  one  that, 
after  the  completion  of  certain  preliminaries,  the 
President  shall  cause  the  statue  to  be  inaugurated 
with  such  ceremonies  ''as  will  serve  to  testify  the 
gratitude  of  our  people,"  etc. 

As  the  proper  performance  of  this  duty  would 
require  of  the  President  frequent  personal  confer- 
ences with  the  Committee  charged  with  making 
arrangements  for  the  inauguration  of  the  statue,  of 
which  the  conveniences  of  the  public  business  re- 
quiring his  personal  attention  would  not  admit,  he 
has  designated  you  to  represent  him  on  the  occa- 
sion of  the  inauguration  of  the  statue,  and  desires 
you  to  consult  freely  with  the  Committee  having 
charge  of  the  ceremonies,  and  act  in  accord 
with  their  views  and  wishes  in  carrying  out  the 
programme  which  that  Committee  may  agree 
upon. 

As  the  use  of  the  military  force  in  the  harbor  of 
New  York  may  be  asked  to  take  part  in  the  cere- 
monies of  the  occasion,  you  are  at  liberty  to  give 


12  INAUGURATION  OF   THE 

orders  to  all  troops,  whether  under  your  command 
as  Division  Commander  or  not,  to  participate  to 
the  extent  required  of  them. 
Very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 
(Signed)  R.  C.  Drum, 

Acting  Secretary  of  War. 

Major-General  J.  M.  Schofield, 

Commanding  Division  of  the  Atlantic, 

Governor  s  Island,  New  York  Harbor, 


INAUGURATION   CEREMONIES. 

The  following  general  outline  of  a  plan  for 
the  ceremonies  attending  the  inauguration  of  the 
statue  of  ''  Liberty  Enlightening  the  World  "  has 
been  approved  by  Major-General  Schofield,  to  take 
place  Thursday,  October  28,  1886: 

First. — A  military,  naval,  and  civic  parade  in 
New  York  City.  The  march  of  the  column  to  ter- 
minate  at  the  Battery,  and  at  other  piers  in  the 
lower  part  of  the  city,  where  steamers  will  be  taken 
for  Bedlow's  Island.  The  positions  of  the  various 
organizations  in  the  column  will  be  such  that,  in 
turning  off  to  the  piers  from  which  they  are  to  em- 


STATUE  OF  LIBERTY.  13 

bark,  there  will  be  no  crossing  of  columns  or  delay 
in  the  march. 

Second. — At  a  given  signal  the  steamers,  pre- 
ceded by  such  ships  of  war  as  may  be  present,  will 
move  in  a  prescribed  order  to  Bedlow's  Island,  and 
will  occupy  their  designated  positions. 

Note. — The  limited  area  and  wharfage  of  the  island  will  only 
permit  of  the  landing  of  a  comparatively  small  proportion  of  those 
who  may  wish  to  take  part  in  the  ceremonies.  Hence,  the  lead- 
ing steamers  only  will  touch  at  the  wharf,  while  all  the  others  will 
be  assigned  positions  from  which  the  ceremonies  may  be  seen. 

Third. — Appropriate  ceremonies  at  the  base  of 
the  statue  to  be  concluded  near  the  hour  of  sun- 
set. 

Fourth. — A  national  salute  from  all  the  batteries 
in  the  harbor,  ashore  and  afloat.  During  the  sa- 
lute the  guests  and  others  on  the  island  will  re- 
embark,  and  the  vessels  of  the  fleet  will  return  to 
their  wharves. 

Fifth. — The  ceremonies  will  be  concluded  by 
the  illumination  of  the  statue. 

All  military,  naval,  and  civic  societies  and  or- 
ganizations which  desire  to  take  part  in  the  parade 
will  make  early  application  to  the  American  Com- 
mittee, at  No.  33  Mercer  Street,  New  York  City, 
or  to  the  Grand  Marshal,  No.  i  Broadway,  so  that 
places  may  be  assigned  them  in  the  column,  and 


14  INAUGURATION  OF   THE 

the  detailed  programme  of  the  parade  made  public 
in  due  time. 

The  Committee  will  furnish  transportation  only 
for  those  who  are  to  take  part  in  the  ceremonies  at 
the  statue,  and  those  guests  who  are  provided  with 
tickets  admitting  them  to  seats  upon  the  platform. 
All  others  who  may  wish  to  take  passage  upon  the 
bay  will  provide  their  own  transportation. 

Approved  : 

(Signed)  J.  M.  Schofield, 

Major-  General. 

Published  by  order  of  the  American  Committee 
of  the  Statue  of  Liberty. 

(Signed)  RicHARD  Butler, 

Secretary. 

General  Charles  P.  Stone  has  been  appointed 
Grand  Marshal  of  the  parade  to  take  place  in  the 
City  of  New  York. 

The  senior  officer  of  the  U.  S.  Navy  who  may 
be  present  is  expected  to  act  as  Admiral  of  the 
Fleet,  and  direct  the  movements  of  all  vessels  tak- 
ing part  in  the  parade  upon  the  bay. 

Official:  J.  P.  Sanger, 

Brevet  Major  U.  S.  Annyy 
Aide-de-Camp, 


STATUE  OF  LIBERTY.  15 

MEMBERS    OF   THE    FRENCH    DELEGATION 
PRESENT   AT    THE    CEREMONIES. 

Mr.  le  Comte  Ferdinand  de  Lesseps, 

Prisident  du  Comite  de  I '  Union  Franco- Americai7ie, 

Mr.  and  Mme.  Aug.  Bartholdi. 

Mr.  I'Amiral  Jaures,  Senateur, 

Mr.  le  General  Pelissier,  Senateur, 
Delegues  par  le  Senat. 

Mr.  E.  Spuller,  Depute, 

Mr.  Desmons,  Depute, 

Deleguds  par  la  Chambre  des  Depittis. 

Mr.  Villegente,  Lieut,  de  Vaisseau, 

Aide-de-camp  du  Minisire  de  la  Marine. 

Mr.  le  Colonel  Bureau  de  Pusy, 

DkliguS  par  le  Minisire  de  la  Guerre. 

Mr.  le  Colonel  Laussedat, 

Directeur  de  I'Ecole  des  Arts  et  Metiers. 

Mr.  Leon  Robert, 

Chef  de  Cabinet  du  Ministre  de  V Instruction  Publique, 

Mr.  Deschamps, 

Vice-President  du  Conseil  Municipal  de  Paris. 

Mr.  Hielard, 

Membre  delegue  de  la  Chambre  de  Commerce  de  Paris. 


j6  inauguration  of  the 

Mr.  GiROUD, 

Ancien  Depute,  deldgicd  du  Mznz'stre  dn  Commerce. 

Mr.  Charles  Bigot, 

Deldgui  par  la  presse  de  Paris. 

Mr.  Napoleon  Ney, 

President  de  la  Societi  de  Geographie  Commerciale. 

Mr.  Leon  Meunier, 

Membre  correspondant  de  V Union  Franco-Americaitie. 


ORDER   OF   EXERCISES.   ON   BEDLOWS   ISLAND, 
THURSDAY,    OCTOBER   28,    1886. 

I.    Music   during   the   landing   and    seating   of 
the  assembly. 

II.    Signal-gun. 

III.  Prayer  by  Rev.  Richard  S.  Storrs,  D.  D. 

IV.  Count  Ferdinand   de  Lessees,  on  behalf 

of  Franco-American  Union. 

V.   Presentation    Address,    Hon.   William   M. 
Evarts. 

VI.    Unveiling. 

VII.   Salute.     A  salvo  from  all  the  guns  in  the 
harbor. 

VIII.    Music. 


STATUE  OF  LIBERTY,  ly 

IX.   Acceptance  of  the  Statue  by  the  President. 

X.  Representative  on  behalf  of  the  Republic 
of  France,  le  Ministre  Plenipotentiaire, 
Delegue  Extraordinaire,  A.  Lefaivre. 

XI.    Music. 

XII.  Commemorative  Address,  Hon.  Chauncey 
M.  Depew. 

XIII.  Music.     Doxology — Tune,    Old  Hundred — in 

which  the  assembly  is  invited  to  join. 

Praise  God,  from  whom  all  blessings  flow ; 

Praise  Him,  all  creatures  here  below ; 

Praise  Him  above,  ye  heavenly  host ; 

Praise  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost. — AiJien. 

XIV.  Benediction,   Right   Rev.   Henry  C.    Pot- 

ter, D.  D. 

The  assembly  upon  the  island  will  be  dismissed  with 
the  Benediction,  and  will  re-embark  upon  the  steam- 
ers, which  will  return  to  their  piers  in  the  city,  join- 
ing with  the  batteries  in  the  general  salute. 

XV.  National  salute.  To  be  fired  simultane- 
ously from  all  the  batteries  in  the  har- 
bor, ashore  and  afloat. 

XVI.    Illumination  of  the   Statue,  with    fireworks 

on    Bedlow's    and    Governor's    Islands, 

and  the  Battery. 

The  music  by  Gilmore's  Twenty-second  Regiment 
Band.     P.  S.  Gilmore,  Musical  Director. 


1 8  INAUGURATION  OF   THE 

After  the  arrival  of  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  accompanied  by  Hon.  T.  F. 
Bayard,  Secretary  of  State,  Hon.  William  C. 
Whitney,  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  Hon.  Will- 
iam C.  Endicott,  Secretary  of  War,  Hon.  L 
Q.  C.  Lamar,  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  and 
the  French  visitors  and  other  distinguished 
guests,  the  meeting  was  called  to  order  by 
General  Schofield,  who  presided  during  the 
ceremonial.     This  was  followed  by  the 


PRAYER    OF   REV.    RICHARD   S.   STORRS,    D.  D. 

Almighty  God,  our  Heavenly  Father,  who  art 
of  an  infinite  majesty  and  mercy,  by  whose  counsel 
and  might  the  courses  of  the  worlds  are  wisely  or- 
dained and  irresistibly  established,  yet  who  takest 
thought  of  the  children  of  men,  and  to  whom  our 
homage  in  all  our  works  is  justly  due:  We  bless 
and  praise  Thee  for  the  knowledge  and  under- 
standing which  Thou  bestowest  upon  man,  and  for 
the  spirit  of  constancy  and  courage  born  within 
him  of  Thy  inspiration.  We  glorify  Thee  for  the 
command  which  Thou  dost  give  him  over  treas- 
ures of  the  mine  and  the  strenfT:th  of  the  hills,  that 


STATUE  OF  LIBERTY.  ig 

he  may  make  them  the  ministers  of  lessons  of  a  gra- 
cious significance ;  and  we  humbly  and  gratefully 
recognize  Thy  presence  in  all  which  he  achieves  of 
beauty  and  power.  The  mind  to  devise,  and  the 
will  to  accomplish,  both  are  of  Thee.  From  Thee 
Cometh  the  artificer's  skill ;  and  to  Thee  the  pa- 
tience of  faithful  workmen,  in  whatever  dexterous 
labor  of  the  hands,  equally  renders  laud  and 
praise. 

It  is  in  Thy  favor,  and  through  the  operation  of 
the  Gospel  of  Thy  grace,  that  cities  stand  in  quiet 
prosperity ;  that  peaceful  commerce  covers  the 
seas ;  that  peoples  and  nations  separated  by  oceans 
are  not  severed  in  spirit,  but  continue  allied,  in 
common  desire  and  in  mutual  regard,  with  happy 
recollections  and  with  happier  hopes.  It  is  in  the 
benign  appointment  of  Thy  will  that  Liberty  and 
Light,  attending  each  other,  advance  always  to  a 
surer  supremacy,  amid  the  manifold  tumult  of  the 
world,  and  that  the  time  comes  constantly  nearer 
when  the  earth  shall  rest  in  righteousness  and 
peace. 

We  give  Thee  thanks  and  praise  this  day  for 
the  lofty  memorial  here  set  up  of  the  kindly  affec- 
tion of  one  great  people  for  another ;  for  the  sym- 
pathies which  prompted,  and  the  skill  which  has 
wrought  it,  and  for  all  which  it  signifies  of  rcmem- 


20  INAUGURATION  OF   THE 

brance  and  of  promise.  We  pray  that  Thou,  who 
enablest  man  to  mold  the  metal  and  make  light- 
nings his  servants,  wilt  accept  the  dedication  of  this 
monument  to  Thee ;  and  that  here  it  ma)''  abide, 
undisturbed  by  tempest,  its  munition  of  rocks  not 
shaken  by  earthquake,  while  waters  encircle  it,  and 
the  light  of  the  morning  returns  to  greet  it. 

We  pray  that  the  Liberty  which  it  represents 
may  continue  to  enlighten  with  beneficent  instruc- 
tion, and  to  bless  with  majestic  and  wide  bene- 
diction, the  nations  which  have  part  in  this  work 
of  renown  ;  that  it  may  stand  a  symbol  of  per- 
petual concord  between  them  ;  and  that  walking 
m  the  paths  of  knowledge  and  freedom  they  may 
constantly  advance  in  the  wisdom  of  their  coun- 
cils, in  magnanimous  enterprise,  and  in  the  noble 
and  salutary  arts  which  are  cherished  by  peace. 

We  pray  for  those  who  bear  office  in  these 
nations ;  that  ruling  in  Thy  faith  and  fear  they 
may  partake  of  the  fullness  of  Thy  favor  ;  that  in 
all  things  personal,  prosperity  may  attend  them  ; 
and  that  whatsoever  in  public  affairs  they  do  or 
design  may  be  so  guided  and  furthered  in  Thy 
providence  that  what  before  has  been  beautiful 
and  fruitful  in  the  history  of  these  nations,  while 
joyfully  remembered,  shall  be  also  continually 
surpassed. 


STATUE  OF  LIBERTY.  2 1 

We  pray  for  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  ;  that 
in  equity  and  charity  their  sure  foundations  may 
be  established ;  that  in  piety  and  wisdom  they 
may  find  a  true  welfare,  in  obedience  to  Thee 
glory  and  praise ;  and  that,  in  all  the  enlarge- 
ments of  their  power,  they  may  be  ever  the  joyful 
servants  of  Him  to  whose  holy  dominion  and 
kingdom  shall  be  no  end. 

Finally,  be  pleased,  we  humbly  beseech  Thee, 
to  grant  Thy  blessing  unto  the  cities,  with  the 
multitudes  of  their  households,  before  which  arises 
this  monument  of  peace  ;  and  unto  us,  from  dif- 
ferent  lands  and  of  various  tongues,  who  are  here 
gathered  ;  that  all  our  doings,  being  moved  by 
Thy  spirit  and  submitted  to  Thy  governance,  may 
be  crowned  with  Thy  favor ;  and  that,  having 
walked  in  gladness  and  faithfulness  in  the  light 
which  Thou  givest,  through  nature  and  art  and 
man's  device,  and  most  of  all  through  the  Word 
of  Thy  truth,  we  may  come  in  Thy  grace  to  the 
perfect  light  and  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  Heav- 
enly estate. 

We  offer  all  praises,  and  seek  all  blessings, 
with  contrite  confession  of  our  sins  and  short- 
comings, in  the  Name  of  Him  who  loved  us  and 
sought  us,  and  who  Himself  hath  taught  us  to 
pray,  saying  ; 


22  INAUGURATION  OF   THE 

Our  Father,  who  art  in  Heaven,  Hallowed  be 
Thy  Name ;  Thy  Kingdom  come ;  Thy  Will  be 
done  on  earth,  as  it  is  in  Heaven  ;  Give  us  this 
day  our  daily  bread  ;  And  forgive  us  our  tres- 
passes, as  we  forgive  those  who  trespass  against 
us ;  And  lead  us  not  into  temptation  ;  But  deliver 
us  from  evil  ;  For  thine  is  the  Kingdom,  and  the 
Power,  and  the  Glory,  forever  and  ever,  Amen. 


COUNT   FERDINAND   DE   LESSEPS,    ON    BEHALF  OF 
FRANCO-AMERICAN    UNION. 

Count  Ferdinand  de  Lesseps  was  then  pre- 
sented to  the  audience,  and  was  received  with 
<^rcat  enthusiasm.  As  the  venerable  but  alert 
and  handsome  old  man,  with  head  uncovered, 
although  raining,  stepped  forward  to  address 
the  vast  assemblage,  the  noise  of  whistles  in- 
creased and  became  deafening.  M.  de  Lesseps 
waved  his  hand  as  if  to  stop  the  noise,  and 
laughingly  remarked,  "  Steam  was  invented  as 
a  benefit,  and  its  progress  is  wonderful,  but  at 
present  it  is  an  evil  and  retards  the  progress 
of  my  speech."     Great  applause    followed    this 


STATUE  OF  LIBERTY.  23 

mot,  and  as  soon  as  the  steam-whistles  of  the 
tugs  and  steamers  had  subsided,  M.  de  Les- 
seps  said : 

Citizens  of  America !  I  have  hastened  to  ac- 
cept the  gracious  invitation  accorded  me  by  the 
Government  of  the  great  American  Repubhc,  to 
be  present  to-day.  It  was  a  generous  thought  of 
those  who  presided  at  the  erection  of  the  Statue 
of  Liberty.  She  has  honored  equally  those  w^ho 
have  conceived  this  spirit  of  hospitality  and  those 
who  took  great  pleasure  in  accepting  it.  '*  Lib- 
erty Enlightening  the  World  !  "  A  grand  beacon 
raised  in  the  midst  of  the  waves  at  the  threshold 
of  free  America  ! 

In  landing  under  the  rays  of  her  kindly  light 
we  know  that  we  have  reached  the  country  where 
the  individual  initiative  is  developed  in  all  its 
power ;  where  progress  is  religion  ;  where  large 
fortunes  become  the  property  of  the  people,  to 
endow  charities,  to  encourage  education,  to  de- 
velop science,  and  to  sow  for  the  future  seeds  of 
greater  benefit. 

You  have  reason,  citizens  of  America,  to  be 
proud  of  your  ''  go  ahead."  (Applause.)  You  have 
made  great  headway  during  one  hundred  years. 
All   honor   to   this   motto  of   yours,    because   you 


24  INAUGURATION  OF   THE 

have  been  invincible  in  3*our  intrepidity  !  In 
speaking  to  you  thus  of  the  sympathy  that  France 
feels  for  you,  I  am  expressing  the  sentiments  of 
each  and  every  one  of  my  compatriots.  There 
are  no  disagreeable  or  sorrowful  recollections  be- 
tween the  two  nations.  They  have  but  one  rival- 
ry— that  is,  progress.  We  accept  your  inventions 
as  you  accept  ours,  without  envy. 

The  men  who  deserve  and  who  persevere  are 
to  your  heart.  I  say,  like  you — go  ahead.  (Ap- 
plause.) We  understand  each  other  when  we 
speak  in  this  language.  I  feel  that  I  am  in  my 
own  family  when  I  am  among  you.  (Applause.) 
Illustrious  descendants  of  French  nobility  who 
crossed  the  Atlantic  a  century  ago  in  the  dawn 
of  your  independence,  the  embassadors  of  our 
sympathy  and  regard  for  you  in  that  noble  strug- 
gle, had  bright  visions  of  your  great  future.  Their 
dreams  have  come  to  pass.  (Applause.)  At  the 
lapse  of  a  century  our  feelings  for  you  remain  the 
same.  The  representatives  of  France  deem  Amer- 
ica powerful  and  free  to-day,  and  present  to 
her  this  emblem  to  proclaim  that  she  is  now 
the  personification  of  liberty.  Hepworth  Dixon, 
an  English  historian,  in  his  work  on  the  "  New 
America,"  after  saying  thrat  your  Constitution  is 
neither  native,  nor  does  it  owe  its  origin  to  Eng- 


STATUE  OF  LIBERTY.  25 

land,  adds,  ''  It  is  an  exotic,  born  in  the  atmosphere 
of  France."  Notwithstanding  this  opinion  of  Dix- 
on, I  beUeve  that  your  laws  are  exclusively  Ameri- 
can, though  I  should  be  proud  to  trace  their  origin 
to  France.  It  is  a  pleasure  for  me  to  speak  to 
you  thus  openly,  and  to  feel  that  my  words  are  re- 
ceived as  those  of  an  old  and  tried  friend. 

At  no  distant  occasion,  gentlemen,  we  will  meet 
to  celebrate  a  new  conquest  and  one  of  peace. 
Farewell  until  we  meet  at  Panama,  where  the  flag 
bearing  the  thirty-eight  stars  of  the  United  States 
shall  float  next  to  the  banners  of  the  republics  of 
South  America,  and  beget  in  this  New  World,  for 
the  good  of  humanity,  an  eternal  friendship  be- 
tween the  Franco-Latin  and  the  Anglo-Saxon  races. 


PRESENTATION    ADDRESS, 
BY   HON.    WILLIAM    M.    EVARTS. 

Mr.  President  :  The  scene  upon  which  this 
vast  assemblage  is  collected  displays  a  transaction 
in  human  affairs  which  finds  no  precedent  or  record 
in  the  past,  nor  in  the  long  future,  we  may  feel  as- 
sured, will  it  ever  confront  its  own  counterpart  or 
parallel.     How  can  we  fitly  frame  in  words  the  sen- 


26  INAUGURATION  OF   THE 

timents,  the  motives,  the  emotions  which  have  filled 
and  moved  the  hearts  and  minds  of  two  great  na- 
tions, in  the  birth  of  the  noble  conception,  the 
grand  embodiment,  the  complete  execution  of  this 
stupendous  monument,  now  unveiled  to  the  ad- 
miring gaze  of  men,  and  emblazoned,  in  its  corona- 
tion of  the  finished  work,  with  the  plaudits  of  the 
world  ?  What  ornaments  of  speech,  what  eloquence 
of  human  voice,  what  costly  gifts  of  gold,  frankin- 
cense, and  myrrh  of  our  hearts'  tribute  can  we  bring 
to  the  celebration  of  this  consummate  triumph  of 
genius,  of  skill,  of  labor,  which  speaks  to-day,  and 
will  speak  forever,  the  thoughts,  the  feelings,  the 
friendships  of  these  two  populous,  powerful,  and 
free  republics,  knit  together  in  their  pride  and  joy 
at  their  own  established  freedom  and  in  their  hope 
and  purpose  that  the  glad  Light  of  Liberty  shall 
Enlighten  the  World? 

For  this  arduous  theme  the  American  Commit- 
tee has  had  the  good  fortune  to  present  an  eminent 
citizen  and  accomplished  orator,  from  grateful  and 
pleased  attention  to  whose  eloquence  the  simple 
office  the  committee  has  asked  me  to  discharge 
will  not  long  detain  this  expectant  multitude. 

In  the  conflict  which  agitated  and  divided  the 
people  of  the  United  States,  and  aroused  the  loyalty 
and  patriotism  of  the  country  to  the  maintenance 


STATUE  OF  LIBERTY, 


27 


of  our  constituted  liberties,  the  liberty-loving  peo- 
ple of  France  felt  an  intense  and  solicitous  interest. 
When  the  issue  of  the  struggle  upheld  and  con- 
firmed the  Government,  maintained  its  unbroken 
unity,  and  made  all  its  people  equal  and  free,  the 
liberty-loving  people  of  France  hailed  the  triumph 
with  an  immense  and  vivid  enthusiasm.  Nor  was 
this  enthusiasm  to  be  satisfied,  but  by  some  ade- 
quate and  permanent  expression  of  their  sympath}^ 
in  our  fiery  trial,  and  congratulations  at  the  abso- 
lute supremacy  of  the  principles  and  institutions 
which  had  been  put  in  peril  and  had  come  out 
from  it  without  the  smell  of  fire  upon  their  gar- 
ments. To  this  energetic  movement  of  the  French 
people  there  was  added  their  historic  and  moment- 
ous friendship  in  securing  our  independence,  and 
the  reciprocal  influences  which  had  shaped  and  con- 
firmed the  free  and  equal  institutions  of  the  two 
countries ;  and  to  the  working  of  all  these  motives 
and  sentiments  of  an  ardent  and  generous  people, 
we  owe,  the  world  owes,  this  visible  and  perpetual 
embodiment  of  the  love  of  liberty  animating  the 
two  nations  which  stands  before  us  and  the  world 
to-day. 

To  this  realization  the  people  of  France  brought 
the  fervor  and  inspiration  of  Laboulaye  and  Hen- 
ri Martin,  the  Lafayettes  and  their  illustrious  com- 


28  INAUGURATION  OF   THE 

panions,  to  spread  abroad  in  all  intelligent  and  up- 
right minds  the  zeal  of  their  own  high  purposes. 
They  drew  from  the  well-furnished  numbers  of 
their  accomplished  and  distinguished  artists  the 
genius,  the  courage,  the  devotion  of  spirit,  the  in- 
domitable will  of  the  great  sculptor,  Bartholdi, 
whose  well-earned  fame  justified  the  trust  com- 
mitted to  him,  and  whose  work  covers  with  its 
splendors  the  gifted  artist,  his  illustrious  art,  and 
the  happy  country  which  gave  him  and  his  labors 
to  this  work.  They  furnished  the  exquisite  arti- 
sanship  and  the  constructive  skill  and  scientific 
training  and  honest  and  hearty  labor  w^hich  have 
together  wrought  out,  in  stubborn  brass  and  iron, 
the  artist's  dream,  the  airy  conception  of  his  mind, 
the  shapely  sculpture  of  his  cunning  hand,  till 
here  it  stands  upon  its  firm  base  as  if  a  natural 
playmate  of  the  elements,  fearing  no  harm  from  all 
the  winds  that  blow.  This  people  of  France,  too, 
contributed  from  many  slender  means,  and  of 
their  free-will,  the  aggregated  wealth  demanded 
for  so  vast  an  undertaking,  all  from  their  hearts  as 
well  as  from  their  purses,  and  all  for  love  of  liberty 
at  home  and  love  of  liberty  abroad,  and  in  hearty 
homage  to  the  friendship  of  these  great  republics. 

The  committee  have  no  occasion  to  insist  upon 
the  share  which  the  people  of  the  United  States 


STATUE  OF  LIBERTY, 


29 


have  taken  in  the  humbler  office  of  furnishing  a 
pedestal  not  unworthy  of  the  statue,  nor  unworthy 
of  our  grateful  acceptance  of  this  noble  gift  and 
appreciation  of  the  generous  disposition  which 
prompted  it.  In  the  perfected  and  completed 
work  of  the  pedestal,  the  genius  of  the  architect ; 
the  sagacity,  the  varied  scientific  and  practical 
accomplishments  of  the  engineer-in-chief ;  the  con- 
structive faculty  and  experience  of  the  builder ; 
and  the  manifold  and  masterly  performances  of  the 
skilled  workmen  upon  this  prodigious  structure, 
and  in  the  elevation  and  security  of  the  statue, 
have  all  been  combined  to  set  out  the  statue  for 
the  admiration  of  our  own  people  and  of  all  com- 
ers to  our  shores. 

As  with  the  French  people,  so  with  our  own, 
the  whole  means  for  the  great  expenditures  of  the 
work  have  come  from  the  free  contributions  of  the 
people  themselves,  and  thus  the  common  people 
of  both  nations  may  justly  point  to  a  greater,  a 
nobler  monument,  in  and  of  the  history  and  prog- 
ress and  welfare  of  the  human  race  than  emperors 
or  kings  or  governments  have  ever  raised. 

Mr.  President:  Upon  the  recommendation  of 
the  President  of  the  United  States,  Congress  au- 
thorized and  directed  the  President  *'  to  accept 
the   colossal   statue  of  '  Liberty    Enlightening   the 


30  INAUGURATION  OF   THE 

World '  when  presented  by  citizens  of  the  French 
Republic,  and  to  designate  and  set  apart  for  the 
erection  thereof  a  suitable  site  upon  either  Gov- 
ernor's or  Bedlow's  Island,  in  the  harbor  of  New 
York;  and  upon  the  completion  thereof  shall  cause 
the  same  to  be  inaugurated  with  such  ceremonies 
as  will  serve  to  testify  the  gratitude  of  our  people 
for  the  expressive  and  felicitous  memorial  of  the 
sympathy  of  the  citizens  of  our  sister  republic." 

The  statue  on  the  4th  of  July,  1884,  ^^  Paris, 
was  delivered  to  and  accepted  by  this  Govern- 
ment, by  the  authority  of  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  delegated  to  and  executed  by  Min- 
ister Morton.  To-day,  in  the  name  of  the  citizens 
of  the  United  States,  who  have  completed  the  ped- 
estal and  raised  thereon  the  statue,  and  of  the  vol- 
untary committee  w^ho  have  executed  the  will  of 
their  fellow-citizens,  I  declare,  in  your  presence, 
and  in  the  presence  of  these  distinguished  guests 
from  France,  and  of  this  august  assemblage  of  the 
honorable  and  honored  men  of  our  land,  and  of 
this  countless  multitude,  that  this  pedestal,  and  the 
united  work  of  the  two  republics,  is  completed, 
and  surrendered  to  the  care  and  keeping  of  the 
Government  and  the  people  of  the  United  States. 


STATUE  OF  LIBERTY.  31 

At  the  close  of  Mr.  Evarts's  speech,  M.  Bar- 
tholdi,  assisted  by  Mr.  D.  H.  King,  Jr.,  removed 
the  French  flag,  which  had  covered  the  face  of 
the  statue,  which  was  the  signal  for  another 
enthusiastic  outburst  of  the  steam-whistles  from 
the  flotilla  anchored  in  front  of  the  island,  and 
a  national  salute  from  the  ships  of  war,  drown- 
ing completely,  by  the  volume  of  sound,  the 
strains  of  the  Marseiflaise  from  the  band.  It 
was  full  fifteen  minutes  before  there  was  suffi- 
cient silence  to  permit  of  any  more  speaking, 
and  then  repeated  rounds  of  cheering,  as  Presi- 
dent Cleveland  came  forward,  prevented  his 
being  heard  at  the  beginning  of  his  remarks. 


ACCEPTED    BY   THE    PRESIDENT. 

He  waited  quietly  with  a  smile  on  his  coun- 
tenance, until  the  enthusiasm  of  the  audience 
had  spent  itself,  and  then  accepted,  on  behalf 
of  the  nation,  the  completed  statue  in  the  fol- 
lowing words: 


32  INAUGURATION  OF   THE 

The  people  of  the  United  States  accept  with 
gratitude  from  their  brethren  of  the  French  Re- 
public the  grand  and  completed  work  of  art  we 
here  inaugurate.  This  token  of  the  affection  and 
consideration  of  the  people  of  France  demonstrates 
the  kinship  of  republics,  and  conveys  to  us  the  as- 
surance that  in  our  efforts  to  commend  to  mankind 
the  excellence  of  a  government  resting  upon  popu- 
lar will,  we  still  have  beyond  the  American  conti- 
nent a  steadfast  ally.  We  are  not  here  to-day  to 
bow  before  the  representation  of  a  fierce  and  war- 
like god,  filled  with  wrath  and  vengeance,  but  we 
joyously  contemplate  instead  our  own  deity  keep- 
ing watch  and  ward  before  the  open  gates  of 
America,  and  greater  than  all  that  have  been  cele- 
brated in  ancient  song.  Instead  of  grasping  in  her 
hand  thunderbolts  of  terror  and  of  death,  she  holds 
aloft  the  light  which  illumines  the  way  to  man's  en- 
franchisement. We  will  not  forget  that  Liberty 
has  here  made  her  home ;  nor  shall  her  chosen 
altar  be  neglected.  Willing  votaries  will  constant- 
ly keep  alive  its  fires,  and  these  shall  gleam  upon 
the  shores  of  our  sister  republic  in  the  East.  Re- 
flected thence,  and  joined  with  answering  rays,  a 
stream  of  light  shall  pierce  the  darkness  of  igno- 
rance and  man's  oppression,  until  liberty  enlightens 
the  world. 


STATUE  OF  LIBERTY,  33 


A   WORD   FROM   THE   FRENCH   NATION. 

The  President  was  followed  on  behalf  of 
the  Republic  of  France  by  W.  A.  Lefaivre, 
the  accredited  representative  of  the  French  na- 
tion, who  spoke  in  English  as  follows : 

Mr.  President,  Gentlemen  of  the  Commit- 
tee, Ladies  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Great 
American  Republic  :  In  presence  of  so  imposing 
an  assembly,  and  as  a  prelude  of  a  ceremony  which 
consolidates  the  secular  friendship  of  two  great  na- 
tions, it  is  an  honor  and  a  hearty  pleasure  to  pre- 
sent to  you,  in  the  name  of  the  French  Government 
and  of  the  entire  French  nation,  the  sincere  and 
warm  assurance  of  a  sympathetic  participation. 
The  inauguration  of  to-day  is  one  attended  with 
solemn  and  impressive  import,  for  it  is  one  of  those 
which  form  an  epoch  in  history.  To  the  American 
nation  it  is  the  crowning  work  of  a  century  of  no- 
ble efforts  and  glorious  triumphs.  To  other  na- 
tions it  eloquently  affirms  human  dignity.  For  the 
friends  of  progress  and  science  and  justice  it  justi- 
fies the  most  sanguine  ambitions.  This  colossal 
statue  of  Liberty,  molded  by  a  great  artist,  would 


34  INAUGURATION  OF   THE 

anywhere  attract  attention  and  deference.  But 
here  on  American  soil  it  evinces  special  signifi- 
cance, symbolizing  the  existence  and  development 
of  your  nation  during  more  than  one  hundred 
years.  It  embodies  the  merits  you  have  displayed 
before  the  world  during  that  long  period  in  the 
achievement  of  liberty. 

Impressed  by  this  great  fact  and  in  remem- 
brance of  the  same,  a  committee  of  French  citizens 
conceived  the  idea  of  embodying  under  this  strik- 
ing form  the  beneficial  work  your  republic  has 
accomplished  in  modern  society,  and  of  erecting 
at  the  entrance  of  this  magnificent  harbor  this 
emblem  of  progress  for  the  instruction  of  the 
world.  To  us,  Americans  and  Frenchmen,  liberty 
is  not  only  a  common  doctrine,  it  is  also  a  family 
tie.  From  the  alliance  between  the  two  nations 
sprang  forth  its  most  dazzling  manifestation,  its 
expansion  and  radiance  through  the  universe.  It 
will  be  an  eternal  honor  to  France  to  have  sec- 
onded the  effort  of  your  heroism,  and  to  have 
understood  in  the  first  dawn  the  sublime  prospects 
which  were  promised  to  mankind  by  your  gener- 
ous ardor.  The  whole  French  nation  five  years 
ago  associated  herself  with  your  glorious  York- 
town  Centennial,  and  with  deep  emotion  the 
grandsons  of  Lafayette,  Rochambeau,  De  Grasse, 


STATUE  OF  LIBERTY.  35 

and  other  illustrious  warriors,  gazed  upon  the 
portraits  of  their  ancestors  on  the  commemorative 
pictures  of  your  glory,  and  read  their  names  in- 
scribed among  the  heroes  and  founders  of  your 
national  independence.  Before  such  images  every 
French  heart  is  moved  by  the  same  feeling,  for 
these  are  not  merely  historical  and  matter-of-fact 
exhibitions — there  is  the  assertion  of  brotherhood, 
formed  on  the  battle-field  and  strengthened  by  the 
conformity  of  institutions,  by  the  communion  of 
faith  in  the  same  principle.  But  more  powerful 
than  mere  monuments  and  inscriptions  will  be  this 
majestic  statue,  which  symbolizes  the  principle 
itself,  and  which  not  only  recalls  a  glorious  past, 
but  spreads  its  luminous  light  upon  the  present 
and  over  the  future. 

The  republics  of  the  past  were  debased  by 
hostility  toward  foreigners,  by  arbitrary  and 
brutal  power,  and  by  slavery.  Even  in  the  mod- 
ern world,  liberty  was  during  long  ages  the  mo- 
nopoly of  privileged  castes  or  races.  Far  differ- 
ent is  our  liberty,  which  relies  upon  the  equality 
of  rights  and  duties  for  all  citizens,  which  se- 
cures for  each  the  same  protection  and  extends 
to  all  a  maternal  solicitude  without  distinction  oi 
birth,  wealth,  opinion,  or  color.  Consequently, 
this  symbol   which   we  inaugurate  to-day  is  not  a 


36  INAUGURATION  OF   THE 

chimeric  allegory.  Pledge  of  a  fraternal  union 
between  the  two  greatest  republics  of  the  world, 
it  is  greeted  simultaneously  by  more  than  one 
hundred  millions  of  free  men  who  tender  friendly 
hands  to  each  other  across  the  ocean.  Admira- 
ble spectacle  which  appeals  to  the  meditation  of 
thinkers,  because  it  means  the  triumph  of  reason 
and  of  justice  over  the  material  dominion !  It 
means,  in  brief,  the  extinction  of  bloody  struggles 
and  the  union  of  all  peoples,  through  the  study  of 
science,  the  respect  of  the  law,  and  sympathy  for 
the  weak.  Yes,  such  are  the  truths  which  our 
statue  of  Liberty  is  proclaiming.  Such  are  the 
rays  which  beam  from  her  torch  to  illuminate  the 
whole  world.  Among  the  thousands  of  Euro- 
peans who  are  daily  conveyed  to  these  hospi- 
table shores,  no  one  will  pass  before  this  glorious 
emblem  without  immediately  perceiving  its  moral 
greatness,  and  without  greeting  it  with  respect 
and  thankfulness. 


STATUE  CF  LIBERTY.  37 


COMMEMORATIVE  ADDRESS, 
BY    HON.    CHAUNCEY   M.   DEPEW. 

We  dedicate  this  statue  to  the  friendship  ol 
nations  and  the  peace  of  the  world.  The  spirit 
of  liberty  embraces  all  races  in  common  brother- 
hood ;  it  voices  in  all  languages  the  same  needs 
and  aspirations.  The  full  power  of  its  expansive 
and  progressive  influence  can  not  be  reached  un- 
til wars  cease,  armies  are  disbanded,  and  interna- 
tional disputes  are  settled  by  lawful  tribunals  and 
the  principles  of  justice.  Then  the  people  of 
every  nation,  secure  from  invasion,  and  free  from 
the  burden  and  menace  of  great  armaments,  can 
calmly  and  dispassionately  promote  their  own  hap- 
piness and  prosperity.  The  marvelous  develop- 
ment and  progress  of  this  republic  are  due  to  the 
fact  that,  in  rigidly  adhering  to  the  advice  of 
Washington  for  absolute  neutrality  and  non-inter- 
ference in  the  politics  and  policies  of  other  gov- 
ernments, we  have  avoided  the  necessity  of  deplet- 
ing our  industries  to  feed  our  armies,  of  taxing 
and  impoverishing  our  resources  to  carry  on  war, 
and  of  limiting  our  liberties  to  concentrate  power 
in  our  government.      Our  great  civil  strife,  with 


38  INAUGURATION  OF   THE 

all  its  expenditure  of  blood  and  treasure,  was  a 
terrible  sacrifice  for  freedom.  The  results  are  so 
immeasurably  great  that,  by  comparison,  the  cost 
is  insignificant.  The  development  of  Liberty  was 
impossible  while  she  was  shackled  to  the  slave. 
The  divine  thought  which  intrusted  to  the  con- 
quered the  full  measure  of  home  rule,  and  accorded 
to  them  an  equal  share  of  imperial  power,  was  the 
inspiration  of  God.  With  sublime  trust  it  left  to 
liberty  the  elevation  of  the  freedmen  to  political 
rights  and  the  conversion  of  the  rebel  to  patriotic 
citizenship.  The  rays  from  this  torch  illuminate 
a  century  of  unbroken  friendship  between  France 
and  the  United  States. 

Peace,  and  its  opportunities  for  material  prog- 
ress and  the  expansion  of  popular  liberties,  sends 
from  here  a  fruitful  and  noble  lesson  to  all  the 
world.  It  will  teach  the  peoples  of  all  countries 
that  in  curbing  the  ambitions  and  dynastic  pur- 
poses of  princes  and  privileged  classes,  and  in  cul- 
tivating the  brotherhood  of  man,  lie  the  true  road 
to  their  enfranchisement.  The  friendship  of  indi- 
viduals, their  unselfish  devotion  to  each  other,  their 
willingness  to  die  in  each  other's  stead,  are  the 
most  tender  and  touching  of  human  records;  they 
are  the  inspiration  of  youth  and  the  solace  of  age ; 
but  nothing  human  is  so  beautiful  and  sublime  as 


STATUE  OF  LIBERTY, 


39 


two  great  peoples  of  alien  race  and  language  trans- 
mitting down  the  ages  a  love  begotten  in  gratitude, 
and  strengthening  as  they  increase  in  power  and 
assimilate  in  their  institutions  and  liberties. 

The  French  alliance  which  enabled  us  to  win 
our  independence  is  the  romance  of  history.  It 
overcame  improbabilities  impossible  in  fiction,  and 
its  results  surpass  the  dreams  of  imagination.  The 
most  despotic  of  kings,  surrounded  by  the  most  ex- 
clusive of  feudal  aristocracies,  sending  fleets  and 
armies  officered  by  the  scions  of  the  proudest  of 
nobilities,  to  fight  for  subjects  in  revolt  and  the 
liberties  of  the  common  people,  is  a  paradox  be- 
yond the  power  of  mere  human  energy  to  have 
wrought  or  solved.  The  march  of  this  mediaeval 
chivalry  across  our  States,  respecting  persons  and 
property  as  soldiers  never  had  before,  never  taking 
an  apple  or  touching  a  fence-rail  without  permis- 
sion and  payment,  treating  the  ragged  Continentals 
as  if  they  were  knights  in  armor  and  of  noble 
ancestry,  captivating  our  grandmothers  by  their 
courtesy  and  our  grandfathers  by  their  courage, 
remains  unequaled  in  the  poetry  of  war.  It  is  the 
most  magnificent  tribute  in  history  to  the  volcanic 
force  of  ideas  and  the  dynamitic  power  of  truth, 
though  the  crust  of  the  globe  imprison  them.  In 
the  same  ignorance  and  fearlessness  with  which  a 


40 


INAUGURATION  OF   THE 


savage  plays  about  a  powder-magazine  with  a 
torch,  the  Bourbon  king  and  his  court,  buttressed 
by  the  consent  of  centuries  and  the  unquestioned 
possession  of  every  power  of  the  state,  sought  re- 
Hef  from  cloying  pleasures  and  vigor  for  enervated 
minds,  in  permitting  and  encouraging  the  loftiest 
genius  and  the  most  impassioned  eloquence  of  the 
time  to  discuss  the  rights  and  liberties  of  man. 
With  the  orator  the  themes  were  theories  which 
fired  only  his  imagination,  and  with  the  courtiers 
they  were  pastimes  or  jests.  Neither  speakers  nor 
listeners  saw  any  application  of  these  ennobling 
sentiments  to  the  common  mass  and  groveling 
herd,  whose  industries  they  squandered  in  riot  and 
debauch,  and  whose  bodies  they  hurled  against 
battlement  and  battery  to  gratify  ambition  or  ca- 
price. But  these  revelations  illuminated  many  an 
ingenuous  soul  among  the  young  aristocracy,  and 
with  distorted  rays  penetrated  the  Cimmerian 
darkness  which  enveloped  the  people.  They  bore 
fruit  in  the  heart  and  mind  of  one  youth  to  whom 
America  owes  much  and  France  everything — the 
Marquis  de  Lafayette. 

As  the  centuries  roll  by,  and  in  the  fullness  of 
time  the  rays  of  Liberty's  torch  are  the  beacon- 
lights  of  the  world,  the  central  niches  in  the 
earth's  Pantheon  of  Freedom  will  be  filled  by  the 


STATUE  OF  LIBERTY,  41 

figures  of  Washington  and  Lafayette.  The  story 
of  this  young  French  noble's  life  is  the  history  of 
the  time  which  made  possible  this  statue,  and  his 
spirit  is  the  very  soul  of  this  celebration.  He  was 
the  heir  of  one  of  the  most  ancient  and  noble 
families  of  France ;  he  had  inherited  a  fortune 
which  made  him  one  of  the  richest  men  in  his 
country,  and  he  had  enlarged  and  strengthened 
his  aristocratic  position  by  marriage,  at  the  early 
age  of  sixteen,  with  a  daughter  of  the  ducal  house 
of  Noailles.  Before  him  were  pleasure  and  pro- 
motion at  court  and  the  most  brilliant  opportu- 
nities in  the  army,  the  state,  and  the  diplomatic 
service.  He  was  a  young  officer  of  nineteen, 
stationed  at  Metz,  when  he  met  at  the  table  of  his 
commander  the  Duke  of  Gloucester,  the  brother 
oi  George  III.  The  Duke  brought  news  of  an 
insurrection  which  had  broken  out  in  the  Ameri- 
can colonies,  and  read  to  the  amazement  of  his 
hearers  the  strange  dogmas  and  fantastic  theories 
which  these  "  insurgents,"  as  he  called  them,  had 
put  forth  in  what  they  styled  their  Declaration  of 
Independence.  That  document  put  in  practice 
the  theories  which  Jefferson  had  studied  with  the 
French  philosophers.  It  fired  at  once  the  train 
which  they  had  laid  in  the  mind  of  this  young 
nobleman    of    France.      Henceforth    his    life   was 


42  INAUGURATION  OF   THE 

dedicated  to  "  Liberty  Enlightening  the  World." 
The  American  Commissioners  at  Paris  tried  to 
dissuade  this  volunteer  by  telling  him  that  their 
credit  was  gone,  that  they  could  not  furnish  him 
transportation,  and  by  handing  him  the  dispatches 
announcing  the  reverses  which  had  befallen  Wash- 
ington, the  retreat  of  his  disheartened  and  broken 
army  across  New  Jersey,  and  the  almost  hopeless 
condition  of  their  cause.  But  he  replied  in  these 
memorable  words :  ''  Thus  far  you  have  seen  my 
zeal  only;  now  it  shall  be  something  more.  1 
will  purchase  and  equip  a  vessel  myself.  It  is 
while  danger  presses  that  I  wish  to  join  your  for- 
tunes." The  King  prohibits  his  sailing ;  he  eludes 
the  guards  sent  for  his  arrest;  his  family  interpose 
every  obstacle,  and  only  his  heroic  young  wife 
shares  his  enthusiasm  and  seconds  his  resolution 
to  give  his  life  and  fortune  to  liberty.  When  on 
the  ocean,  battling  with  the  captain,  who  fears  to 
take  him  to  America,  and  pursued  by  British 
cruisers  specially  instructed  for  his  capture,  he 
writes  to  her  this  loving  and  pathetic  letter :  "  I 
hope,  for  my  sake,  you  will  become  a  good  Ameri- 
can. This  is  a  sentiment  proper  for  virtuous 
hearts.  Intimately  allied  to  the  happiness  of  the 
whole  human  family  is  that  of  America,  destined 
to    become   the   respectable   and    sure   asylum    of 


STATUE  OF  LIBERTY.  43 

virtue,  honesty,  toleration,  equality,  and  of  tranquil 
liberty."  Except  the  Mayflower,  no  ship  ever 
sailed  across  the  ocean  from  the  Old  World  to  the 
New  carrying  passengers  of  such  moment  to  the 
future  of  mankind. 

It  is  idle  now  to  speculate  whether  our  fathers 
could  have  succeeded  without  the  French  alliance. 
The  struggle  would  undoubtedly  have  been  in- 
definitely prolonged  and  probably  compromised. 
But  the  alliance  assured  our  triumph,  and  Lafayette 
secured  the  alliance.  The  fabled  argosies  of  an- 
cient and  the  armadas  and  fleets  of  modern  times 
were  commonplace  voyages  compared  with  the 
mission  enshrined  in  this  inspired  boy.  He  stood 
before  the  Continental  Congress  and  said,  *'  I  wish 
to  serve  you  as  a  volunteer  and  without  pay,"  and 
at  twenty  took  his  place  with  Gates  and  Greene 
and  Lincoln  as  a  major-general  in  the  Continental 
Army.  As  a  member  of  Washington's  military 
family,  sharing  with  that  incomparable  man  his 
board  and  bed  and  blanket,  Lafayette  won  his 
first  and  greatest  distinction  in  receiving  from  the 
American  chief  a  friendship  which  was  closer  than 
that  bestowed  upon  any  other  of  his  compatriots, 
and  which  ended  only  in  death.  The  great  com- 
mander saw  in  the  reckless  daring  with  which  he 
carried    his  wound    to  rally  the    flying    troops    at 


44  INAUGURATION  OF   THE 

Brandjwine,  the  steady  nerve  with  which  he  held 
the  column  wavering  under  a  faithless  general  at 
Monmouth,  the  wisdom  and  caution  with  which  he 
manoeuvred  inferior  forces  in  the  face  of  the  enemy, 
his  willingness  to  share  every  privation  of  the  ill- 
clad  and  starving  soldiery,  and  to  pledge  his  fortune 
and  credit  to  relieve  their  privations — a  commander 
upon  whom  he  could  rely,  a  patriot  he  could  trust, 
a  man  he  could  love. 

The  surrender  of  Burgoyne  at  Saratoga  was  the 
first  decisive  event  of  the  war.  It  defeated  the 
British  plan  to  divide  the  country  by  a  chain  of 
forts  up  the  Hudson  and  conquer  it  in  detail.  It 
inspired  hope  at  home  and  confidence  abroad.  It 
seconded  the  passionate  appeals  of  Lafayette  and 
the  marvelous  diplomacy  of  Benjamin  Franklm ;  it 
overcame  the  prudent  counsels  of  Necker,  warning 
the  king  against  this  experiment,  and  won  the 
Treaty  of  Alliance  between  the  old  monarchy  and 
the  young  republic.  Lafayette  now  saw  that  his 
mission  was  in  France.  He  said,  "  I  can  help  the 
cause  more  at  home  than  here,"  and  asked  for 
leave  of  absence.  Congress  voted  him  a  sword, 
and  presented  it  with  a  resolution  of  gratitude,  and 
he  returned,  bearing  this  letter  from  that  conven- 
tion of  patriots  to  his  king :  "We  recommend  this 
young  nobleman  to  your  Majesty's  notice,  as  one 


STATUE  OF  LIBERTY. 


45 


whom  we  know  to  be  wise  in  council,  gallant  in 
the  field,  and  patient  under  the  hardships  of  war." 
It  was  a  certificate  which  Marlborough  might  have 
coveted,  and  Gustavus  might  have  worn  as  the 
proudest  of  his  decorations.  But  though  king  and 
court  vied  with  each  other  in  doing  him  honor, 
though  he  was  welcomed  as  no  Frenchman  had 
ever  been  by  triumphant  processions  in  cities  and 
fetes  in  villages,  by  addresses  and  popular  ap- 
plause, he  reckoned  them  of  value  only  in  the 
power  they  gave  him  to  procure  aid  for  Liberty's 
fight  in  America.  "  France  is  now  committed  to 
war,"  he  argued,  "  and  her  enemy's  weak  point  for 
attack  is  in  America.  Send  there  your  money  and 
men,"  and  he  returned  with  the  army  of  Rocham- 
beau  and  the  fleet  of  De  Grasse. 

*'  It  is  fortunate,"  said  De  Maurepas,  the  Prime 
Minister,  *'  that  Lafayette  did  not  want  to  strip 
Versailles  of  its  furniture  for  his  dear  Americans, 
for  nobody  could  withstand  his  ardor."  None  too 
soon  did  this  assistance  arrive,  for  Washington's 
letter  to  the  American  Commissioners  in  Paris 
passed  it  on  the  way,  in  which  he  made  this  urgent 
appeal :  "  If  France  denies  a  timely  and  powerful 
aid  in  the  critical  posture  of  our  affairs,  it  will 
avail  us  nothing  should  she  attempt  it  hereafter. 
We   are   at   this   hour  suspended   in   the  balance. 


46  INAUGURATION  OF   THE 

In  a  word,  we  are  at  the  end  of  our  tether,  and 
now  or  never  deliverance  must  come."  General 
Washington  saw  in  the  allied  forces  now  at  his 
disposal  that  the  triumph  of  independence  was 
assured.  The  long,  dark  night  of  doubt  and  de- 
spair was  illuminated  by  the  dawn  of  a  hope.  The 
material  was  at  hand  to  carry  out  the  comprehen- 
sive plans  so  long  matured,  so  long  deferred,  so 
patiently  kept.  That  majestic  dignity  which  had 
never  bent  to  adversity,  that  lofty  and  awe-inspir- 
ing reserve  which  presented  an  impenetrable  bar- 
rier to  familiarity,  either  in  council  or  at  the  fes- 
tive board,  so  dissolved  in  the  welcome  of  these 
decisive  visitors  that  the  delighted  French  and 
astounded  American  soldiers  saw  Washington  for 
the  first  and  only  time  in  his  life  express  his  happi- 
ness with  all  the  joyous  effervescence  of  hilarious 
youth. 

The  flower  of  the  young  aristocracy  of  France 
in  their  brilliant  uniforms,  and  the  farmers  and 
frontiersmen  of  America  in  their  faded  Continent- 
als, bound  by  a  common  baptism  of  blood,  became 
brothers  in  the  knighthood  of  Liberty.  With  emu- 
lous eagerness  to  be  first  in  at  the  death,  while  they 
shared  the  glory,  they  stormed  the  redoubts  at 
Yorktown  and  compelled  the  surrender  of  Corn- 
wallis  and  his  army.     While  this  practically  ended 


STATUE  OF  LIBERTY. 


47 


the  war,  it  strengthened  the  alliance  and  cemented 
the  friendship  between  the  two  great  peoples.  The 
mutual  confidence  and  chivalric  courtesy  which 
characterized  their  relations  has  no  like  example  in 
international  comity.  When  an  officer  from  Gen- 
eral Carleton,  the  British  commander-in-chief,  came 
to  headquarters  with  an  offer  of  peace  and  inde- 
pendence, if  the  Americans  would  renounce  the 
French  alliance,  Washington  refused  to  receive 
him  ;  Congress  spurned  Carleton's  secretary,  bear- 
ing a  like  message ;  and  the  States,  led  by  Mary- 
land, denounced  all  who  entertained  propositions 
of  peace  which  were  not  approved  by  France,  as 
public  enemies.  And  peace  with  independence 
meant  prosperity  and  happiness  to  a  people  in  the 
very  depths  of  poverty  and  despair.  France,  on 
the  other  hand,  though  sorely  pressed  for  money, 
said  in  the  romantic  spirit  which  permeated  this 
wonderful  Union :  "  Of  the  twenty-seven  million 
livres  we  have  loaned  you,  we  forgive  you  nine 
millions  as  a  gift  of  friendship  ;  and  when  with 
years  there  comes  prosperity,  you  can  pay  the 
balance  without  interest." 

With  the  fall  of  Yorktown  Lafayette  felt  that 
he  could  do  more  for  peace  and  independence  in 
the  diplomacy  of  Europe  than  in  the  war  in  Amer- 
ica.    His  arrival  in  France  shook   the  Continent. 


48  INAUGURATION  OF   THE 

Though  one  of  the  most  practical  and  self-poised 
of  men,  his  romantic  career  in  the  New  World  had 
captivated  courts  and  peoples.  In  the  formidable 
league  which  he  had  quickly  formed  with  Spain 
and  France,  England  saw  humiliation  and  defeat, 
and  made  a  treaty  of  peace,  by  which  she  recog- 
nized the  independence  of  the  Republic  of  the 
United  States. 

In  this  treaty  were  laid  the  deep,  broad,  and  in- 
destructible foundations  for  the  great  statue  we  this 
day  dedicate.  It  left  to  the  American  people  the 
working  out  of  the  problem  of  self-government. 
Without  king  to  rule  or  class  to  follow,  they  were 
to  try  the  experiment  of  building  a  nation  upon  the 
sovereignty  of  the  individual  and  the  equality  of  all 
men  before  the  law.  Their  only  guide  and  trust 
and  hope  were  God  and  Liberty.  In  the  fraternal 
greetings  of  this  hour  sixty  millions  of  witnesses 
bear  testimony  to  their  wisdom,  and  the  foremost 
and  freest  Government  in  the  world  is  their  monu- 
ment. 

The  fight  for  liberty  in  America  was  won.  Its 
future  here  was  threatened  with  but  one  danger, 
the  slavery  of  the  negro.  The  soul  of  Lafayette, 
purified  by  battle  and  suffering,  saw  the  inconsist- 
ency and  the  peril,  and  he  returned  to  this  coun- 
try to  plead  with  State  Legislatures  and  with  Con- 


STATUE  OF  LIBERTY. 


49 


gress  for  the  liberation  of  what  he  termed  "  my 
brethren,  the  blacks."  But  now  the  hundred 
years'  war  for  liberty  in  France  Avas  to  begin. 
America  was  its  inspiration,  Lafayette  its  apostle, 
and  the  returning  French  army  its  emissaries.  Be- 
neath the  trees  by  day  and  in  the  halls  at  night, 
at  Mount  Vernon,  Lafayette  gathered  from  Wash- 
ington the  gospel  of  freedom.  It  was  to  sustain 
and  guide  him  in  after-years  against  the  tempta- 
tions of  power  and  the  despair  of  the  dungeon.  He 
carried  the  lessons  and  the  grand  example  through 
all  the  trials  and  tribulations  of  his  desperate  strug- 
gle and  partial  victory  lor  the  enfranchisement  of 
his  country.  From  the  ship  on  departing  he  wrote 
to  his  great  chief,  whom  he  was  never  to  see  again, 
this  touching  good-by  :  ''  You  are  the  most  be- 
loved of  all  the  friends  I  ever  had  or  shall  have 
anywhere.  I  regret  that  I  can  not  have  the  inex- 
pressible pleasure  of  embracing  you  in  my  own 
house,  and  welcoming  you  in  a  family  where  your 
name  is  adored.  Everything  that  admiration,  re- 
spect, gratitude,  friendship,  and  filial  love  can  in- 
spire is  combined  in  my  affectionate  heart  to  de- 
vote me  most  tenderly  to  you.  In  your  friendship 
I  find  a  delight  which  no  words  can  express." 
His    farewell    to    Congress    w^as    a    trumpet-blast 

which   resounded    round    a  world    then   bound   in 
4 


50  INAUGURATION  OF   THE 

the  chains  of  despotism  and  caste.  Every  govern- 
ment on  the  Continent  was  an  absolute  monarchy, 
and  no  language  can  describe  the  poverty  and 
wretchedness  of  the  people.  Taxes  levied  with- 
out law  exhausted  their  property,  they  were  ar- 
rested without  warrant  and  rotted  in  the  Bastile 
without  trial,  and  they  were  shot  at  as  game  and 
tortured  without  redress,  at  the  caprice  or  pleasure 
of  their  feudal  lords.  Into  court  and  camp  this 
message  came  like  the  handwriting  on  the  wall 
at  Belshazzar's  feast.  Hear  his  words :  ''  May  this 
immense  temple  of  freedom  ever  stand  a  lesson  to 
oppressors,  an  example  to  the  oppressed,  a  sanc- 
tuary for  the  rights  of  mankind,  and  may  these 
happy  United  States  attain  that  complete  splendor 
and  prosperity  which  will  illustrate  the  blessings 
of  their  Government,  and  for  ages  to  come  rejoice 
the  departed  souls  of  its  founders ! "  Well  might 
Louis  XVI,  more  far-sighted  than  his  ministers, 
exclaim,  "  After  fourteen  hundred  years  of  power 
the  old  monarchy  is  doomed  !  " 

While  the  principles  of  the  American  Revolu- 
tion were  fermenting  in  France,  Lafayette,  the 
hero  and  favorite  of  the  hour,  was  an  honored 
guest  at  royal  tables  and  royal  camps.  The  proud 
Spaniard  and  Great  Frederick  of  Germany  alike 
welcomed  him,  and  everywhere  he  announced  his 


STATUE  OF  LIBERTY,  51 

faith  in  government  founded  on  the  American  idea. 
The  financial  crisis  in  the  affairs  of  King  Louis 
on  the  one  hand,  and  the  rising  tide  of  popular 
passion  on  the  other,  compelled  the  summons  of 
the  Assembly  of  Notables  at  Versailles.  All  the 
great  officers  of  state,  the  aristocracy,  the  titled 
clergy,  the  royal  princes  were  there,  but  no  rep- 
resentative of  the  people.  Lafayette  spoke  for 
them,  and,  fearless  of  the  effort  of  the  brother  of 
the  King  to  put  him  down,  he  demanded  religious 
toleration,  equal  taxes,  just  and  equal  administra- 
tion of  the  laws,  and  the  reduction  of  royal  ex- 
penditures to  fixed  and  reasonable  limits.  This 
overturned  the  whole  feudal  fabric  which  had  been 
in  course  of  construction  for  a  thousand  years. 
To  make  effectual  and  permanent  this  tremendous 
stride  toward  the  American  experiment,  he  para- 
lyzed the  Court  and  Cabinet  by  the  call  for  a 
National  Assembly,  an  assembly  of  the  people. 
Through  that  Assembly  he  carried  a  Declaration 
of  Rights,  founded  upon  the  natural  liberties  of 
man,  a  concession  of  popular  privilege  never  be- 
fore secured  in  the  modern  history  of  Europe,  and, 
going  as  far  as  he  believed  the  times  would  admit 
toward  his  idea  of  an  American  Republic,  he 
builded  upon  the  ruins  of  absolutism  a  constitu- 
tional monarchy. 


52  INAUGURATION  OF   THE 

But  French  democracy  had  not  been  trained 
and  educated  in  the  schools  of  the  Puritan  or  the 
colonist.  Ages  of  tyranny,  of  suppression,  repres- 
sion, and  torture,  had  developed  the  tiger  and 
dwarfed  the  man.  Democracy  had  not  learned 
the  first  rudiments  of  liberty,  self-restraint  and  self- 
government.  It  beheaded  king  and  queen,  it 
drenched  the  land  with  the  blood  of  the  noblest 
and  best,  in  its  indiscriminate  frenzy  and  madness 
it  spared  neither  age  nor  sex,  virtue  nor  merit, 
and  drove  its  benefactor,  because  he  denounced  its 
excesses  and  tried  to  stem  them,  into  e^xile  and  the 
dungeon  of  Olmatz.  Thus  ended,  in  the  horrors  of 
the  French  Revolution,  Lafayette's  first  fight  for 
liberty  at  home.  After  live  years  of  untold  suffer- 
ings, spurning  release  at  the  price  of  his  allegiance 
to  monarchy,  holding  with  sublime  faith,  amid  the 
most  disheartening  and  discouraging  surroundings, 
to  the  principles  of  freedom  for  all,  he  was  released 
by  the  sword  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  to  find  that 
the  untamed  ferocity  of  the  Revolution  had  been 
trained  to  the  service  of  the  most  brilliant,  capti- 
vating, and  resistless  of  military  despotisms  by  the 
mighty  genius  of  the  great  Dictator.  He  only  was 
neither  dazzled  nor  dismayed,  and,  when  he  had  re- 
jected every  offer  of  recognition  and  honor.  Napo- 
leon said  :  '*  Lafayette  alone  in  France  holds  fast  to 


STATUE  OF  LIBERTY. 


53 


his  original  idea  of  liberty.  Though  tranquil  now, 
he  will  reappear  if  occasion  offers."  Against  the 
First  Consulate  of  Bonaparte  he  voted  ''  No,  un- 
less with  guarantees  of  freedom."  When  Europe 
lay  helpless  at  the  feet  of  the  conqueror,  and  in 
the  frenzy  of  military  glory  France  neither  saw 
nor  felt  the  chains  he  was  forging  upon  her,  La- 
fayette, from  his  retirement  of  Lagrange,  pleaded 
with  the  Emperor  for  republican  principles,  hold- 
ing up  to  him  the  retributions  always  meted 
out  to  tyrants,  and  the  pure,  undying  fame  of 
the  immortal  few  who  patriotically  decide,  when 
upon  them  alone  rests  the  awful  verdict,  whether 
they  shall  be  the  enslavers  or  the  saviors  of  their 
country. 

The  sun  of  Austerlitz  set  in  blood  at  Waterloo, 
the  swords  of  allied  kings  placed  the  Bourbon  once 
more  on  the  throne  of  France.  In  the  popular 
tempest  of  July  the  nation  rose  against  the  intoler- 
able tyranny  of  the  King,  and,  calling  upon  this 
unfaltering  friend  of  liberty,  said  with  one  voice : 
"  You  alone  can  save  France  from  despotism  on 
the  one  hand  and  the  orgies  of  the  Jacobin  mob  on 
the  other;  take  absolute  power,  be  marshal,  gen- 
eral, dictator  if  you  will !  "  But  in  assuming  com- 
mand of  the  National  Guard  the  old  soldier  and 
patriot  answered  amid  the  hail  of  shot  and  shell, 


54  INAUGURATION  OF   THE 

"•  Liberty  shall  triumph,  or  we  all  perish  togeth- 
er ! "  He  dethroned  and  drove  out  Charles  X, 
and  France,  contented  with  any  destiny  he  might 
accord  to  her,  with  unquestioning  faith  left  her 
future  in  his  hands.  He  knew  that  the  French 
people  were  not  yet  ready  to  take  and  faithfully 
keep  American  liberty.  He  believed  that  in  the 
school  of  constitutional  government  they  would 
rapidly  learn,  and  in  the  fullness  of  time  adopt  its 
principles,  and  he  gave  them  a  King  who  was  the 
popular  choice,  and  surrounded  him  with  the  re- 
straints of  charter  and  an  Assembly  of  the  people. 
And  now  this  friend  of  mankind,  expressing  with 
his  last  breath  a  fervent  prayer  that  his  beloved 
France  might  speedily  enjoy  the  liberty  and  equali- 
ty and  the  republican  institutions  of  his  adored 
America,  entered  peacefully  into  rest.  United  in 
a  common  sorrow  and  a  common  sentiment,  the 
people  of  France  and  the  people  of  the  United 
States  watered  his  grave  with  their  tears  and 
wafted  his  soul  to  God  with  their  gratitude. 

To-day,  in  the  gift  by  the  one,  and  the  accept- 
ance by  the  other,  of  this  colossal  statue,  the  peo- 
ple of  the  two  countries  celebrate  their  unity  in  re- 
publican institutions,  in  government  founded  upon 
the  American  idea,  and  in  their  devotion  to  liberty. 
Together  they  rejoice  that  its  spirit  has  penetrated 


STATUE  OF  LIBERTY,  55 

all  lands  and  is  the  hopeful  future  of  all  peoples. 
American  liberty  has  been  for  a  century  a  beacon- 
light  for  the  nations.  Under  its  teachings  and  by 
the  force  of  its  example,  the  Italians  have  expelled 
their  petty  and  arbitrary  princelings,  and  united 
under  a  parliamentary  government ;  the  gloomy 
despotism  of  Spain  has  been  dispelled  by  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  people  and  a  free  press ;  the  great 
German  race  have  demonstrated  their  power  for 
empire  and  their  ability  to  govern  themselves. 
The  Austrian  monarch,  who  when  a  hundred 
years  ago  Washington  pleaded  with  him  across 
the  seas  for  the  release  of  Lafayette  from  the 
dungeon  of  Olmlitz,  replied  that  "  he  had  not  the 
power,"  because  the  safety  of  his  throne  and  his 
pledges  to  his  royal  brethren  of  Europe  compelled 
him  to  keep  confined  the  one  man  who  represented 
the  enfranchisement  of  the  people  of  every  race 
and  country,  is  to-day,  in  the  person  of  his  succes- 
sor, rejoicing  with  his  subjects  in  the  limitations 
of  a  Constitution  which  guarantees  liberties,  and 
a  Congress  which  protects  and  enlarges  them. 
Magna  Charta,  won  at  Runnymede  for  English- 
men, and  developing  into  the  principles  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  with  their  descend- 
ants, has  returned  to  the  mother-country  to  bear 
fruit  in  an  open  Parliament,  a  free  press,  the  loss  of 


56  INAUGURATION  OF   THE 

royal  prerogative,  and  the  passage  of  power  from 
the  classes  to  the  masses. 

The  sentiment  is  sublime  which  moves  the 
people  of  France  and  America,  the  blood  of  whose 
fathers,  commingling  upon  the  battle-fields  of  the 
Revolution,  made  possible  this  magnificent  march 
of  liberty,  and  their  own  republics,  to  commem- 
orate the  results  of  the  past  and  typify  the  hopes 
of  the  future  in  this  noble  work  of  art.  The  de. 
scendants  of  Lafayette,  Rochambeau,  and  De 
Grasse,  who  fought  for  us  in  our  first  struggle, 
and  Laboulaye,  Henri  Martin,  De  Lesseps,  and 
other  grand  and  brilliant  men,  whose  eloquent 
voices  and  powerful  sympathies  were  with  us  in 
our  last,  conceived  the  idea,  and  it  has  received 
majestic  form  and  expression  through  the  genius 
of  Bartholdi. 

In  all  ages  the  achievements  of  man  and  his 
aspirations  have  been  represented  in  symbols. 
Races  have  disappeared,  and  no  record  remains  of 
their  rise  or  fall,  but  by  their  monuments  we  know 
of  their  history.  The  huge  monoliths  of  the  As- 
syrians and  the  obelisks  of  the  Egyptians  tell 
their  stories  of  forgotten  civilizations,  but  the  sole 
purpose  of  their  erection  was  to  glorify  rulers  and 
preserve  the  boasts  of  conquerors.  They  teach  sad 
lessons  of  the  vanity  of    ambition,   the  cruelty  of 


STATUE  OF  LIBERTY, 


57 


arbitrary  power,  and  the  miseries  of  mankind.  The 
Olympian  Jupiter  enthroned  in  the  Parthenon  ex- 
pressed in  ivory  and  gold  the  awful  majesty  of  the 
Greek  idea  of  the  King  of  the  gods  ;  the  bronze 
statue  of  Minerva  on  the  Acropolis  offered  the 
protection  of  the  patron  goddess  of  Athens  to 
the  mariners  who  steered  their  ships  by  her  helmet 
and  spear  ;  and  in  the  Colossus  of  Rhodes,  famed 
as  one  of  the  wonders  of  the  world,  the  Lord  of  the 
Sun  welcomed  the  commerce  of  the  East  to  the 
city  of  his  worship.  But  they  were  all  dwarfs  in 
size  and  pygmies  in  spirit  beside  this  mighty  struct- 
ure and  its  inspiring  thought.  Higher  than  the 
monument  in  Trafalgar  Square  which  commem- 
orates the  victories  of  Nelson  on  the  sea ;  higher 
than  the  Column  Vendome  which  perpetuates  the 
triumphs  of  Napoleon  on  the  land ;  higher  than  the 
towers  of  the  Brooklyn  Bridge,  which  exhibit  the 
latest  and  grandest  results  of  science,  invention, 
and  industrial  progress,  this  statue  of  Liberty  rises 
toward  the  heavens  to  illustrate  an  idea  which 
nerved  the  three  hundred  at  Thermopylae  and 
armed  the  ten  thousand  at  Marathon,  which  drove 
Tarquin  from  Rome  and  aimed  the  arrow  of  Tell, 
which  charged  with  Cromwell  and  his  Ironsides 
and  accompanied  Sidney  to  the  block,  which  fired 
the  farmer's  gun  at  Lexington  and  razed  the  Bas 


58 


INAUGURATION  OF   THE 


tile  in  Paris,  which  inspired  the  charter  in  the 
cabin  of  the  Mayflower  and  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence from  the  Continental  Congress. 

It  means  that  with  the  abolition  of  privileges  to 
the  few  and  the  enfranchisement  of  the  individual, 
the  equality  of  all  men  before  the  law,  and  uni- 
versal suffrage,  the  ballot  secure  from  fraud  and 
the  voter  from  intimidation,  the  press  free  and 
education  furnished  by  the  state  for  all,  liberty  of 
worship  and  free  speech,  the  right  to  rise,  and  an 
equal  opportunity  for  honor  and  fortune,  the 
problems  of  labor  and  capital,  of  social  regenera- 
tion and  moral  growth,  of  property  and  poverty, 
will  work  themselves  out  under  the  benign  influ- 
ence of  enlightened  law-making  and  law-abiding 
liberty,  without  the  aid  of  kings  and  armies,  or  of 
anarchists  and  bombs. 

Through  the  Obelisk,  so  strangely  recalling  to 
us  of  yesterday  the  past  of  twenty  centuries,  a 
forgotten  monarch  says,  ''  I  am  the  Great  King, 
the  Conqueror,  the  Chastiser  of  Nations,"  and  I 
expect,  as  a  monument  of  antiquity,  it  conveys  no 
meaning  and  touches  no  chord  of  human  sympa- 
thy. But  for  unnumbered  centuries  to  come,  as 
Liberty  levels  up  the  people  to  higher  standards 
and  a  broader  life,  this  statue  will  grow  in  the  ad- 
miration and  affection  of  mankind.     When  Frank- 


STATUE  OF  LIBERTY.  59 

lin  drew  the  lightning-  from  the  clouds,  he  little 
dreamed  that  in  the  evolution  of  science  his  dis- 
covery would  illuminate  the  torch  of  Liberty  for 
France  and  America.  The  rays  from  this  beacon, 
lighting  this  gateway  to  the  continent,  will  welcome 
the  poor  and  the  persecuted  with  the  hope  and 
promise  of  homes  and  citizenship.  It  will  teach 
them  that  there  are  room  and  brotherhood  for  all 
who  will  support  our  institutions  and  aid  in  our 
development ;  but  that  those  who  come  to  disturb 
our  peace  and  dethrone  our  laws  are  aliens  and 
enemies  forever.  I  devoutly  believe  that  from  the 
unseen  and  the  unknown  two  great  souls  have 
come  to  participate  in  this  celebration.  The  faith 
in  which  they  died  fulfilled,  the  cause  for  which 
they  battled  triumphant,  the  people  they  loved  in 
the  full  enjoyment  of  the  rights  for  which  they 
labored  and  fought  and  suffered,  the  spirit-voices 
of  Washington  and  Lafayette  join  in  the  glad  ac- 
claim of  France  and  the  United  States  to  Liberty 
Enlightening  the  World. 

At  the  close  of  Mr.  Depew's  address,  the 
whole  audience  rose  and  sang  the  Doxology, 
with  the  accompaniment  of  the  band,  which 
was  very  effective,  and  the  exercises  were  con- 
cluded with   a  benediction  by  the  Right   Rev. 


6o  INAUGURATION  OF   THE 

Henry  C.  Potter,  D.  D.  As  the  President  and 
party  embarked  from  the  island,  the  yards  of 
the  men-of-war  were  again  manned,  while  once 
more  the  guns  thundered  forth  a  national  sa- 
lute, which  was  returned  from  all  the  harbor 
batteries. 

The  embarkation  from  the  island  of  the 
vast  crowd  there  assembled  was  happily  accom- 
plished with  but  slight  confusion,  the  arrange- 
ments of  the  committee  being  excellent,  and 
they  were  ably  seconded  by  the  police  force. 
The  only  thing  that  at  all  marred  the  entire 
success  of  the  occasion  was  the  disagreeable 
weather,  which  was  an  insuperable  obstacle  to 
the  completion  of  the  programme,  that  was  to 
terminate  with  a  brilliant  display  of  fireworks 
on  the  Battery,  Bedlow's  and  Governor's  Isl- 
ands. These  were  witnessed  a  few  evenings 
later  by  a  large  assemblage  of  many  thousands. 


STATUE  OF  LIBERTY.  6l 


THE   BARTHOLDI   STATUE, 
BY  JOHN   GREENLEAF  WHITTIER. 

The  land,  that,  from  the  rule  of  kings, 
In  freeing  us,  itself  made  free, 

Our  Old  World  Sister,  to  us  brings 
Her  sculptured  Dream  of  Liberty : 

Unlike  the  shapes  on  Egypt's  sands 
Uplifted  by  the  toil-worn  slave, 

On  Freedom's  soil  with  freemen's  hands 
We  rear  the  symbol  free  hands  gave. 

O  France,  the  beautiful !  to  thee 
Once  more  a  debt  of  love  we  owe : 

In  peace  beneath  thy  fleur-de-lis, 
We  hail  a  later  Rochambeau  ! 

Rise,  stately  Symbol !  holding  forth 
Thy  light  and  hope  to  all  Avho  sit 

In  chains  and  darkness !     Belt  the  earth 
With  watch-fires  from  thy  torch  uplit! 


62  INAUGURATION  OF   THE  STATUE. 

Reveal  the  primal  mandate  still 
Which  Chaos  heard  and  ceased  to  be, 

Trace  on  mid-air  th'  Eternal  Will 
In  signs  of  fire :  ''  Let  man  be  free ! " 

Shine  far,  shine  free,  a  guiding  light 
To  Reason's  ways  and  Virtue's  aim, 

A  lightning-flash  the  wretch  to  smite 
Who  shields  his  license  with  thy  name! 


INSCRIPTION  IN  THE  EASTERN  DOOR-WAY  OF  THE 
PEDESTAL  OF  THE  STATUE  OF  LIBERTY. 


A    GIFT 

FROM   THE    PEOPLE   OF   THE   REPUBLIC    OF   FRANCE 

TO    THE    PEOPLE   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES, 

THIS   STATUE    OF   LIBERTY 

ENLKiHTENING    THE   \VORLI) 

COMMEMORATES 

THE   ALLLVNCE   OF    IHE   TWO    NATIONS 

IN   ACHIEVING   THE    INDEPENDENCE   OF 

THE    UNITED    STATES    OF   AMERICA, 

AND    ATTESTS 

THEIR   AI5IDING   FRIENDSHIP. 


Inaugurated 
October  28,  a.  d.  1886. 
AUGUSTE   BARTHOLDI, 

Sculptor, 


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